


Just This Once, Everyone Dies

by laughablyunimportant



Category: Doctor Who, Homestuck
Genre: Death, Dream Bubbles, Gen, POV Second Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-10
Updated: 2012-09-10
Packaged: 2018-06-04 18:36:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6669847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughablyunimportant/pseuds/laughablyunimportant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where do the lost ones go, who are no longer here but aren't properly gone, either?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Just This Once, Everyone Dies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [almond-goddess](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=almond-goddess).



> Written in response to [this](http://almond-goddess.tumblr.com/post/31044123334/dream-bubbles-by-almond-goddess-aradia-takes-the).

"I don't understand," he says, but it doesn't stop him from taking your hand anyway. You didn't really expect it to; from what you've heard about the Doctor, nothing really stops him from pursuing adventure. 

"Just come along," you say, red wings flicking as you tug him after you. "You've been waiting for a very long time. And time travelers are a notoriously impatient bunch."

He almost stops at that, steps faltering at the mention of others of his kind, but you tug at his wrist again and he stumbles along, fiddling with his bowtie with his free hand as his gangly legs keep pace with you. 

"I'm not quite sure how I got here," he says after a bit, "or if I can get back. You're not the sort of nasty that'll lure me away from my ship so you can suck my brain out through a straw, are you? Because that's not cool. I mean straws are cool, but not the whole brain-sucking bit. Especially not my brain. That thing's a mess. Though if you did it with a bendy-straw—"

You giggle, releasing his hand to cover your mouth. "You never do stop being silly, do you?"

He flashes you a grin, reckless abandon and terrifying sincerity all in one. "Never."

"Good," you say, "I'm not sure they could stand you any other way."

To their right, one of the glistening black bubbles seemed to illuminate at your words, sudden glow revealing a city within, figures floating just the other side of the iridescent barrier. The man beside you let out a soft gasp, arms slowly lowering until they hung loose at his sides. 

"They're…" he trailed off, eyes flitting from one figure to the next.

"They're you," you supplied. "Only dead-er. And they've been waiting; some for a very, very long time."

He stood there, for how long didn't really matter, long enough to take in the ones before him, their dead white eyes, the soft surreal glow of a place made better by the fuzzy lens of memory rising from the city beyond. Long enough for one of the figures on the other side to scowl, leather jacket squeaking as he crossed his arms to say, "Well? You going to get in here sometime soon or do we have to wait for you to regenerate to join the flock?"

He laughed, the sound bursting out of him, genuine and childlike. He sprung forward, not even a moment of hesitation at the bubble's surface as he pushed his way through, the others alighting nearby as soon as it became clear that he couldn’t fly like them. 

You watched them swarm about, asking for news, for what had happened to companions they'd known or ones they'd been told about by later generations. His hands flicked about, words tumbling out of his mouth too fast for him to keep proper hold of. You watched as an almost imperceptible tightness drained from him, delight radiating off him so strongly it was nearly blinding. You doubted he realized, though the others certainly knew. The relief of finding yourself so very suddenly not alone was a feeling no one forgot lightly, especially a man who had endured the feeling for so very long.

Turning, you took off, wanting to rejoin some dead companions of your own.


End file.
